Character Profile: Ishida Uuryu

Ishida Uryuu is the classmate and friend of Kurosaki Ichigo. Ishida has a quiet personality, and most of the time he shys away from the crowd, prefering to be alone. And sometimes, he tries hard to act cool. Ishida is a talent when it comes to sewing. He is a member of the school’s fine arts club, and helps fellow members to fix up things like stuffed toys when they asked. At one point of the seires, Ichigo approached him to sew up Kon, which he ended up going the extra mile and adding fancy clothings for Kon. Ishida also possess great intelligence, as he tops the school in terms of academic achievement. At one point of the series, Ishida also demonstrated his intelligence by solving a puzzle to a game of illusional maze.

In his youth, Ishida spent most of his time with his grandfather, Soken Ishida. It was his grandfather who trained him in the way of the Quincy. Ishida do not have a good relationship with his father, Ryuken. His father was also against the way of the Quincy, mentioning that he would rather care for his own wealth and income than to protect the people from the Hollows. And later on during his youth, Ishida’s grandfather was killed by Hollows in front of his eyes, and he could do nothing to save him. And the Shinigami (Death Gods) who were responsible at that time for the protection against Hollows, were late to save his grandfather. This is part of the reason why Ishida came to hate the Shinigami.

History of Quincy

Ishida is known to be the last surviving Quincy. The Quincy are a group of spiritually aware humans who sworn to fight the Hollows, using spiritual bows as their means of fighting. But the Quincy are now near extinction due to the extermination by the Shinigami about 200 years before the main Bleach storyline.

The main difference between a Quincy and a Shinigami, is that Shinigami “cleanses” a Hollow’s spirit, sending them back to the Soul Society, whereas the Quincy deals a killing blow to the Hollow, destroying it forever. The Shinigami soon realized that the Quincy’s actions could soon lead to a disruption to the balance of the human and soul worlds. But the Quincy refused to heed their advices, which eventually led to a war started by the Shinigami to exterminate the Quincy.

This tragic past has caused Ishida to hate all Shinigami. Hence, when Ishida first met Ichigo, he had deep hatred for him.

Ishida Uryuu’s Powers

The Quincy’s bow is summoned by drawing spiritual energy from the environment and directed using willpower. In the beginning, Ishida’s bow was that of a normal Quincy’s, named the Koujaku (Yellow Sparrow). But at a later point of the series, he mastered the Sanrei Gloves left for him by his grandfather. This allowed him to create an impressive bow. And if the Quincy of this bow breaks the spike on the gloves, he will receive a surge of extremely powerful energy which even a Shinigami of Captain level could be defeated. But after a certain time limit, the Quincy is left powerless, and no longer able to use any Quincy powers.

After mastering the Sanrei Gloves, Ishida was able to use a technique named Hirenkyaku, which allows him to move at speeds comparable to that of a Shinigami’s Shunpo. Another rare technique, which is known to typically be usable only by high level Quincy, is the Ransotengai . By using this technique, Ishida was able to control his body as one would a puppet. Strands of spiritual energy strings his body together allowing him to fight effectively even when he is physically paralysed.